For a while, it looked like Walmart had Denver in the bag. But now, developers are going back to the drawing board...or at least the calender. After Denver City Council reps Mary Beth Susman and Jeanne Robb announced they opposed tax-increment financing for the project, the Colorado Boulevard Healthcare District cancelled next week's meeting.

Opponents of the project had already asked for a place at the podium at that October 4 meeting. They had not received a response to their request when a notice went out yesterday from the CBHD, which has been coordinating the neighborhood project, putting that meeting on hold:

Dear CBHD Board Members and Guests:

Based on Councilwomen Susman and Robb's statement that they will not support TIF for infrastructure costs for the currently proposed redevelopment plan of the former University of Colorado Health Sciences site at 9th and Colorado Blvd., we have decided to cancel the October 4th meeting of the Colorado Blvd. Healthcare District, pending more information from the Developer.

The meeting's intent was for public comment on the plan in front of the Board, but since that plan included a request for DURA financing as part of its approval, and with the unlikely success of a City Council vote on the same, and lacking a modified proposal from the Developer, the reason to meet becomes moot.

The next scheduled meeting after October 4th, is to be held on November 1st. Please watch your emails as to the status of that meeting as well.

Thank you for your interest and continued participation in the CBHD meetings. We will keep you fully informed about any new information or updated plans we receive about the development.

Mary Nell Wolff, Chair Colorado Blvd. Healthcare District Board

Susman is president of Denver City Council and the rep for the 5th District, while Robb is councilwoman for the 10th; both districts border Colorado Boulevard. The cancellation notice came three days after the two councilwomen announced that they were opposing tax-increment financing for the proposed development -- a powerful obstacle for the project's proponents to overcome. Here's their announcement:

(DENVER) Councilwoman Mary Beth Susman and Councilwoman Jeanne Robb announced today that they will not support tax increment financing for the redevelopment as currently proposed at 9th and Colorado by Fuqua Development. The Councilwomen's joint statement follows:

"We respect the hard work of the Colorado Boulevard Health Care District (CBHCD), the City's Department of Community Planning & Development (CPD), the Denver Urban Renewal Authority (DURA), and the developer to facilitate the redevelopment of this key site. We also want to thank our constituents for all the ideas and input.

Plans for redevelopment of the former Health Sciences Center site owned by the University of Colorado (CU) have been in progress since 2003. In that time, different developers offered site plans that evolved with the developer and the economy. The initial balanced, mixed-use project became more retail-oriented through the years. The proposed insertion of Wal-Mart as anchor tenant created a tipping point for new scrutiny of the project that needs a greater mix of uses if it is to generate increases in retail sales for the area. We are concerned that the project as proposed is more likely to draw from other retail in the area, thus not producing a true tax increment.

Our constituents have made their concerns about the current proposal known, and we respect their views.

We intend to continue working with our communities, CU, this developer or a future developer, the CBHCD, and the City administration to find a viable alternative."

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Patricia Calhoun co-founded Westword in 1977; she’s been the editor ever since. She’s a regular on the weekly CPT12 roundtable Colorado Inside Out, played a real journalist in John Sayles’s Silver City, once interviewed President Bill Clinton while wearing flip-flops, and has been honored with numerous national awards for her columns and feature-writing.